For the past few weeks, Gwen and I have really been working on gettting the girls on a schedule. So far, we have worked it out like this. Wake up time (between 7am and 7:30 am, although occasionally one of the girls decides they are going to get up at 6 am), morning routine of playing, then nap at 9am with a bottle. Up at about 11 am for more play, usually on the play mat with some practice rolling over. Saoirse, by the way, is rolling front to back and back to front both ways with and without her brace. She is very coordinated. Rowan still has yet to roll back to front, but that is mostly because she starts crying if you leave her on the ground for more than a minute, so she doesn't practice.

Back down for a nap at about 1 pm for an hour or so. Up for playing and more food. Nap at 4pm for Rowan and maybe Saoirse if she will allow. At around six, Saoirse gets her brace off and we all play a while. Bath time is at 7pm. They both love it, but really hate drying off. Then its bedtime around 7:30pm to 8pm. It is really easy to put them down, but they have been waking up at about 8:30 almost every night, and then fight going back down for almost an hour. At night they have been sleeping better for me, not so much for Gwen. They always wake up at least once during the night, sometimes more, but I think it is getting better. I have to give all of the credit for the schedule to Gwen. She is a great mom and is working really hard.

Other fun things we have done include taking the girls to BW's for their first Michigan game. They are very happy that the Wolverines have turned things around and are looking forward to seeing their first OSU game in a few weeks.

Wow, time flies. Every time I sit down here to update, I'm shocked at how long it's been. Well...what can I tell you? The girls are growing like crazy. They have now gotten the hang of holding their own toys. They reach out for stuffed animals, us, their rattles, all sorts of stuff. And it goes in their mouths. Saoirse is a serious drooler, so this new ability to get everything in her mouth makes things pretty messy. Also, they are more aware of each other all the time, which is really adorable. This morning while I was playing with them both on their Baby Einstein gym, Saoirse flailed her hand close enough to Rowan's face to interest her. So Rowan grabbed Saoirse's fist with both of her own hands, pulled it into her mouth, and started sucking. It doesn't bother them at all to be handled like that, it's pretty funny to watch.

I would say that biggest change lately is how much they're trying to "talk." Of course, they always made noises (especially Rowan). But now you can tell that they're really trying to communicate. They'll lie in your lap, look in your eyes, and just "talk" away, working so hard to shape their mouths into new sounds. I love it, I can't imagine how entertaining it's going to be when it's real words.